Tack strip



Nov. 6, 1951 A. MARSDEN 2,574,219

TACK STRIP Filed April 17, 1950 INVENTOR. YLawreme A Marso'en B Patented Nov. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OF Fl CE.

TACK STRIP Lawrence A. Marsden, High Point, N.

Application. April 17, 1950, Serial No.,156,4=26

2. Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in strip Y tacks, and especially to a novel ornamental and utilitarian strip of tacks adapted to be applied to articles-of furniture such as upholstered chairs, divans, sofas, footstools, chests, headboards or footboards of beds, outlines of panels on doors or Walls, etc., or to be bent in suitable forms when applied to such or other bases for the purpose of enhancing the beauty thereof, and providing means for securing the upholstery or covering fabric to the article being upholstered.

An object of the invention is to provide an ornamental and utilitarian tack strip blank comprising an alined series of circular heads integrally united in narrowly spaced diametrical alinement by means of short neck sections, which heads have prongs extending from diametrically opposite portions of the periphery thereof, with the prongs terminating in planes substantially tangent to the peripheries of said alined heads.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tack strip of the above-described type which is constructed to facilitate the breaking ofcthe strip at any neck portion thereby to provide a tack strip section of the desired length.

Another object is to provide a tack strip in which when it is broken at a neck section to provide a tack strip of the desired length, the stub of the broken neck on the end tack of the tack strip section has such a shape that'it will be buried in the article to which the tack strip section is secured and will, therefore, be entirely obscured from view.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tack strip of the above type in which the prongs of each head are located inside the periphery thereof so that when the tack strip is applied to an article, the prongs are completely hidden and the entire peripheral edge of each tack has an unbroken contact with the article.

In order to give an understanding of the invention, I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described, after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 illustrates an article of furniture, such as a footstool or a chest, having my improved tack strip applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a blank from which a tack strip embodying my invention may be cut, said view showing at the right end a series of connected unformed tacks which have been cut from the blank.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a tack strip embodying 2 mypresent invention, said view illustrating the tacks after they have. been given their permanent shape. V

Fig; 4. is. a top plan view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6' is asectionon the line 6-45, Fig. 4.

Fig- 7 is an end view of a tack strip section that has been severed from the original tack strip.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a portion of a tack strip applied to an article, the section through the tacks being on the, line 5-5, Fig. 4.

A tack strip embodying the present invention includes a series of tack heads I. that are integrally connected in strip formation by short narrow neck sections, 2, each tack head having two diametrically disposed prongs 3, 4 extending from the head at right angles. thereto. A. tack strip of this nature can be cut from a blank 5 as shown in Fig. 2 thereby to form a strip 6 of unformed connected tacks. As illustrated in Fig. 2 the blank 5. is so cut as to form the series of tack heads I, which are herein shown as. circular, and which are connected by the narrow neck sections 2, each tack head having two diametrically opposed prong portions 3, 4 extending therefrom, the prong portion 3' lying closely adjacent to the neck section on one side of the tack head, and the prong, portion 4 lying closely adjacent to the neck section 2 on the other side of the tack head. Both of the prong portions 3 and 4 have an approximate tangential relation to the adjacent head and each prong is cut from the material of the blank 5 which is substantially within the limits of the width or transverse diameter of the adjacent heads. With this arrangement a tack strip can be cut from a blank 5 which is only slightly wider than the diameter of the tack heads.

After the unformed tack strip 6 has been cut from the blank 5, then each neck section 2 which connects two adjacent tack heads, is deformed to present a shallow V-shape as shown in Figs. 3, 5, and 8, with one leg of the V integrally united to one of the two tack heads and the other leg of the V integrally connected to the other tack head. Such deformation of each neck section forms a shallow V-groove which extends transversely of the neck section centrally thereof, with the apex of the V directed downwardly, said apex extending below the plane of the periphery of the heads.

The heads I of the completed tack strip may be flat or may be slightly crowned, the crown shape being preferable.

In bending the prong portions 3, 4 to produce the prongs of the completed tack strip, each prong portion is bent at the periphery of the head to present the inwardly directed short section I as shown in Fig. 6 and then is bent downwardly to provide the body portion of the prong which extends at right angles to the plane of the periphery of the head. The prongs, of course, are pointed so that they can be easily driven into any article of furniture.

With this construction the body of the prongs which enter the article to which the tack strip is applied are located inside of the periphery 8 of the tack head, and as a result when the tack strip is applied to an article of furniture, the entire peripheral edge 8 of the head I of each tack will contact with the surface of the article and the prongs will be entirely hidden from view.

The deforming of the neck sections 2 to produce the V-shape serves to draw the heads together slightly and also facilitates the breaking of the strip at any neck section. The sharp point at the apex of the V in each neck section constitutes a line of weakness along which the strip can be readily broken by bending it sharply at any neck section whenever it is desired to divide a long tack strip into sections. The breaking of any neck section along the apex of its V will leave a short downwardly directed neck stub 9 on the end tack head of each section;

When the tack strip is applied to an article such as the article ID in Fig. 1, not only will the prongs 3 and 4 be driven into the article, but the V-shaped neck sections 2 between adjacent tacks will be forced into the surface of the article as shown in Fig. 8 and the neck stub 9 at the end tack of the strip section will also be forced into the article ID and thus concealed from view.

The embedding of the V-shaped necks in the surface of the article adds to the security with which the tack strip is attached to the article I I] and, as stated above, the manner in which the prongs are constructed, and the fact that the neck stub is directed downwardly results in giving cally alined, narrowly spaced circular tack heads integrally united by narrow relatively short neck sections, each head having integral therewith diametrically opposite downwardly directed prongs cut from the material of the strip substantially within the limits of the width of adjacent heads, each neck section connecting two adjacent tack heads being deformed to present a shallow V- groove which extends transversely across the neck section centrally thereof with one leg of the V integrally connected with one of the two adjacent tack heads, and the other leg of the V integrally connected with the other tack head, the apex of each V being directed downwardly and located below the plane of the peripheral edges of said heads, the sharp point at the apex of each V-groove constituting a line of weakness along which the corresponding neck may be easily broken in order to divide the tack strip into sections, each leg of the V of the broken neck section then constituting a short neck stub which is directed downwardly from the edge of the end tack head of each section and which forms an additional prong for said head.

2. An ornamental and utilitarian tack strip blank comprising an alined series of circular heads, means integrally uniting 'successive heads in narrowly spaced diametrical alinement and ,prongs extending from diametrically opposite portions of the periphery of the respective heads, with the prongs terminating in planes substantially tangent to the peripheries of said alined heads, whereby when the prongs are bent downwardly perpendicular to the plane of the p'eripheries of the respective heads the shanks of the tacks may be driven into a suitable base without distortion and without exertion of a rupturing force upon the integral head-connecting means.

LAWRENCE A. MARSDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The followingrefere'nces are of record in the file of this patent:

Novick Mar. 2, 1937 

